Senate Confirms Gorsuch to Replace Late Justice Antonin Scalia

By a vote of 54-45, the Republican-led U.S. Senate voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, replacing the late, great constitutionalist Antonin Scalia.

The vote happened just one day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP exercised the “Harry Reid Nuclear Option,” a parliamentary maneuver designed to lower the vote threshold needed from 60 to 51.

While liberals have been squealing about how such a move would “ruin the Senate” or destroy democracy, they have failed to mention that the move is a Democrat invention, pushed by Harry Reid a mere few years ago.

The development was a signal triumph for President Trump, whose campaign last year rested in large part on his pledge to appoint another committed conservative to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. However rocky the first months of his administration may have been, Mr. Trump now has a lasting legacy: Judge Gorsuch, 49, could serve on the court for 30 years or more.

Vice President Mike Pence presided over the final vote Friday, a show of force for the White House on a day when his tiebreaking vote as president of the Senate was not necessary. The final tally was 54-45 in favor of confirmation.

The confirmation was also a vindication of the bare-knuckled strategy of Senate Republicans, who refused even to consider President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Merrick B. Garland, saying the choice of the next justice should belong to the next president.

Trump’s choice of Gorsuch was roundly praised by conservatives, who seem him as a viable replacement for Scalia, who holds a special place in the hearts of conservatives for his originalist approach to ruling.

Many are cheering the long-fought battle:

The nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch of Colorado to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is confirmed.